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Finally some (really) good news on the animation front:
- the animation director for episode 166 will be Hirofumi Suzuki. He did episodes 82 (Asuma's funeral), 85 (team 10 vs H&K) and 123 (Sasuke vs Deidara) of Shippuuden, basically most of the Shippuuden "special" episodes.
- the animation director for episode 167 will be Atsushi Wakabayashi. He has only worked on the original series before and did episode 30 (Sasuke vs Orochimaru), 71 (third hokage vs Orochimaru) and 133 (Naruto vs Sasuke at the VotE), basically most of the part 1 "special" episodes.

I'm really glad to see some of the best animators are doing those episodes, but personally I would have wanted 162 to be one of the best done episodes. It was okay, but I had really hoped for a little more with Konoha's destruction. This last episode I thought really sucked which ticked me off because I remember when I first read this in the manga I really started to like Naruto as a character after watching him fight pain. Oh well... there were 20 or 30 chapters of pure awesomeness all in a row in this section, we can't have the best animators doing every one of them. :/

Quote:

Originally Posted by neshru

Spoiler for MORE SPOILERS ABOUT 166 - DON'T OPEN IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THE MANGA, YOU'LL GET CANCER:

Yeah, I expect them to pad the episode with a thousand filler flashbacks. Then they will extend the fighting scene a little, and then turn the stabbing scene into five minutes of Pain breaking every bone in Hinata's body. The episode will end with the end of 437.

Spoiler for if you don't know what's coming:

I'd like them to expand on the fighting scene a little. I was disappointed to see Hinata doing something new (in the manga) only to have it shot down instantly. Of course they did the same thing with Kakashi's dog shaped chidori so maybe they will keep it cannon. If they use flash backs to fillers I will crack up!

EDIT: Sorry neshru... I was a bit foggy as to what was appropriate to this thread. It doesn't say "anime only" but it seems a lot of the anime only people are reading it.

Holy cow! Atsushi is like a living legend among the fans who appreciate their animated movement and he is highly respected among his peers because how capable he is. Sasuke vs Orochimaru is one of the fluidest fights in the entire Naruto series. He topped that fight with Sasuke vs Naruto in episode 133 by large margin even though the episode was incomplete. I'm so looking forward to episode 167.

EDIT: Sorry neshru... I was a bit foggy as to what was appropriate to this thread. It doesn't say "anime only" but it seems a lot of the anime only people are reading it.

As long as there is not a [Manga] or [Anime-Only] in the title, then the thread is for both anime and manga readers (a kind of middle ground, if you will). The difference between [Anime-Only] and a non-bracketed thread title is the use of spoilers. [Anime-Only] threads never have manga spoilers (to put a spoiler in such a thread could, if a mod is vindictive enough, lead to an infraction (and if it is constant spoiling, then a possible ban)), but non-bracketed threads allow for manga spoilers, as so long as they are placed under spoiler tags. ([Manga] threads, of course, allow for full spoilage (unless you are trying to spoil future chapters in previous chapter threads, in which case spoiler tags are required).)

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As for future episodes,...well at least we know Yumenosuke Tokuda will be getting a short break since Hirofumi Suzuki and Atsushi Wakabayashi are doing 166 & 167 (I swear, Tokuda is the most overworked of the Shippuden animation supervisors, and what little animation we do like in about the last dozen or so episodes is directly resulted from Yumenosuke Tokuda coming in to fix the mistakes of the supervisors already hired...sadly, he could only do so much...).

are those 2 episodes the start of a new arc? or are they just small fillers?

It'll probably be just 2 episodes. It wouldn't make sense to start a whole adventure arc, even if it's short like the 6-Tails, right after the big battle and Konoha getting wiped out. Why Iruka though? I guess with what's coming up, they'll be too busy with so many other characters, so they figure if they're going to give any extra screentime to him, they'd better do it now. It will probably be flashbacks about how his parents were killed by the Kyuubi, and how he's watched Naruto grow up into the hero of the village. Really all stuff we already know. I agree with james, it is a waste of time.

As I'm looking at these episode titles posted by James, I'm wondering: are we already in filler? Episode 170-171 was a total waste of time. The upcoming episode titles indicate more of the wtf am I watching and why?

As I'm looking at these episode titles posted by James, I'm wondering: are we already in filler? Episode 170-171 was a total waste of time. The upcoming episode titles indicate more of the wtf am I watching and why?

Episode 175 will be the end of the Pain arc, and it will cover up to Chapter 450, only 55 chapters from the last released chapter. So, there will be a filler arc for sure (honestly, there is no way around it). I'm expecting another Season long filler arc, so somewhere around 20-25 weeks of filler...honestly, better a filler arc than inserting filler in the next canon story arc...

As I'm looking at these episode titles posted by James, I'm wondering: are we already in filler?

There will be some filler for sure after the end of the arc, but I don't think it will be a long saga unless they pull a Bleach. It will probably be only 4 episodes just to get to the new OP and start the next canon arc with that.

There will be some filler for sure after the end of the arc, but I don't think it will be a long saga unless they pull a Bleach. It will probably be only 4 episodes just to get to the new OP and start the next canon arc with that.

I just don't see how that is possible. The manga and anime are too close together, so some room has to be made. I am fully expecting an actual filler arc...which, realistically, wouldn't be too bad (at least from the perspective of time).

For instance, I can see a Re-Build Konoha arc (since the village was kind of destroyed), in which Naruto and a few others (not Hinata ) go off to acquire materials needed to start work on rebuilding Konoha, only to encounter some rouge ninja organization (or just some douche nobles) that are terrorizing the area Konoha needs to acquire materials from (or something to that effect).

Whatever the case, 4 episodes is simply not enough filler, unless we want the anime to heavily mess with the upcoming canon arcs (ala the horrendous use of filler and padding from early on in Shippuden). Additionally, this is a great place to introduce lots of filler without necessarily interfering with the story.

Why not? The next arc to come in the anime is already over in the manga. Plus this is a bad spot to have a long filler arc. Plus having all the good animators come back from the movie production just to use them on a filler arc would be retarded (well, I'm not sure the studio cares at this point).
The end of the next arc is the perfect spot for a long filler arc. Because there is all the space to fit a long filler arc in the current storyline, and because it would happen during the production of the next movie, so no canon arc would get ruined by bad animation like it happened to the current arc.

Why not? The next arc to come in the anime is already over in the manga. Plus this is a bad spot to have a long filler arc. Plus having all the good animators come back from the movie production just to use them on a filler arc would be retarded (well, I'm not sure the studio cares at this point).
The end of the next arc is the perfect spot for a long filler arc.

I agree that the end of the next arc is a good space for fillers, but I also see the end of this arc as a good space for fillers.

Spoiler for minor manga spoilers...:

There is a time in the manga, in-between Naruto ascension to hero, and Danzou as Hokage, that the village is being rebuilt. While opinions vary, many consider the time period in-between the applause track for Naruto and the arrival of Team Kumo to be at least several days, if not an entire week (considering that Inari and his old drunk grandfather are able to arrive in Konoha to help start the rebuilding effort). So, that time period would be great for a a mini-filler arc of some sort (I wouldn't mind a series of individual Team-centric filler episodes (8-10 episodes), each focusing on the characters that were thrown to the side in order to make Naruto badass).

Whatever the case, I do think a little more time is needed before the start of the next canon arc...